He meant exactly what you think
There was that tweet the other day where Trump linked immigrants and “breeding,” so that was startling. I objected on Twitter but didn’t get around to doing so here.
What exactly did President Donald Trump mean by “breeding” when he tweeted Wednesday about cities that will not cooperate with the federal government to deport the undocumented.
This is Donald Trump. He meant exactly what you think.
Ya it’s not ambiguous. We don’t talk about people “breeding” unless we’re intent on insulting them.
The tweet, offered Wednesday morning, argued that Californians prefer his hard-line policies to those of Gov. Jerry Brown.
“There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!”
There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
Taken literally, the most likely explanation is that he’s talking about sanctuary cities as places where undocumented immigrants breed.
If that’s right, there’s a racial undertone in the comment should slap you in the face.
Fear of immigrants from certain countries “breeding” has been a staple of nativist thought for hundreds of years. The “breeding” fear has been affixed to Jews from Eastern Europe, Catholics from Ireland and Italy, Chinese and, now, Latinos, Filipinos, Africans and Haitians. This is dog-whistle politics at its worst.
Today Sarah Sanders was asked about it.
Asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta during Monday’s daily briefing whether Trump had used a derogatory term to refer to Latinos, Sanders said that wasn’t the case.
“No, he’s talking about the problem itself growing and getting bigger,” said Sanders, who was conducting her first briefing since the episode.
A few minutes later, April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks returned to the issue, telling Sanders that “when you think of breeding, you think of animals.”
“I’m not going to begin to think what you think,” Sanders said. “The president’s talking about a growing problem.”
Puhleeze.
“This is dog-whistle politics at its worst.”
But he has the BEST dog-whistle politics. It’s terrific, yuge even.
I hate to defend the idiot, but “breeding crime” is a fairly common phrase:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%2B“breeding+crime”+-trump&oq=%2B“breeding+crime”+-trump
Hence I read “crime infested & breeding concept“ as short for “crime infested and crime-breeding concept”, mean that the sanctuary cities are already infested with crime and are continuing to create more of it.
It’s certainly impossible he meant to imply that immigrants are breeding out of control, but I don’t think that’s a necessary reading.
Certainly not impossible? Certainly possible? Certainly impossible doesn’t seem to be what you mean.
Skeletor, he didn’t say ‘breeding crime’ though, which I agree is common. Maybe that was the context he meant, but that isn’t at all clear and, given his history, I’m less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t think that is what he meant. I think “Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept” translates to “sanctuary areas=infestation with crime and [excessive] breeding.” The syntax is a mess, of course, but he was vomiting out his tiny thoughts: sanctuary – crime – breeding. It’s hard work shaping angry blurts into a sentence that makes sense. I think it’s a variation on the old “they breed like rabbits” trope.
I think Skeletor’s interpretation is plausible – breeding CAN be used to mean “producing” or “bearing” in a non-animalistic manner; “crime-breeding conditions” – and Trump might have been (awkwardly) implying that Sanctuary cities breed crime.
But I think that is completely invalidated by what Sanders said. Sanders’ explanation was that Trump meant “breeding” as a synonym for “growing” and in reference to “the problem itself” (not in reference to crime). And that explanation smells like bullshit. Simply, “breeding” and “growing” are not synonyms in this context.
No native-English-speaker would confuse the two. Native speakers recognize that “a growing problem” refers to a singular problem that is getting bigger, whereas “a breeding problem” would refer to a problem of breeding (in the animal-reproducing sense).
While someone speaking English as a second language might slip up between the two, no native English speaker would ever “inadvertently” substitute “breeding” for “growing” with respect to “a problem”. Sander’s explanation feels like saying, “I want the inexperienced car” and later clarifying: “well, by ‘inexperienced’, I meant ‘green'”.
In other words, Sander’s is claiming that Trump meant something completely different than what he said; a claim she’d only make in recognition of just how bad what he actually said was.
“…Sander’s is claiming that Trump meant something completely different than what he said; a claim she’d only make in recognition of just how bad what he actually said was.”
That’s pretty much her entire job in a nutshell.